Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Building a lazy river...

I guess our plans for the new pond extension have changed a bit. Originally the .33 acre pond was to be extended to around 1-1.5 acres. The good news is a large excavator is due on the neighbors property in the future and he will dig for us for a couple of days.

The tougher news is now my buddy wants me to design a lazy river system on the 5 acres surrounding the new extension. He wants a channel about 8' wide and 4-5' deep to wind around so he can float on a tube in the summer. I thought it was a neat idea and have started sketching the layout, but wanted to see if anyone here has done this? What kind of ideas would work for a small current to flow the river? The channel will be easy to layout and dig I suppose, but I am not sure on an effective method of creating even a small current flow in one direction. Any help, suggestions or crazy ideas would be appreciated.

OK, I'll bite and assume you're serious about building a residential waterpark. Maybe I'm missing something, but water flows downhill, which means there has to be a slope, which means there has to be a constant source of water at the top, which unless you've got a heck of a natural water source means there has to be a way to get water from the bottom back to the top, which means a whopperjaw holy-smokes pumping system. My waterfall has a 12,000 GPH pump on a 10' head and I don't think it would float a leaf down a 2' channel after being asked to pump water up a few feet and across a few hundred feet. Piping, maintenance, installation, electricity, etc.--Wow!! It'd be a lot easier and cheaper to just float in the pond and spin around so the scenery changes . . .

my buddy would be pichin in on crazy ass idea's like that!.. tell him to forget it, and do like Inland Island says:.. " just float in the pond and spin around so the scenery changes . . ."

I told him he was nuts, but I'd post it anyway and see if anyone had any ideas. He is thinking that even if its level and you put a big pump at one end you'll eventually end up at the other. A big portion of this would be down hill. I personally would rather make the pond 2-3 acres instead. Any other ideas?